Telecharge Purposely Blocking Best Buyers from Website!

[arthur49]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:20pm

Finally heard from Telecharge. Can you believe - they are purposely blocking their highest users (I usually buy 4 or 5 sets of tickets every month).

Here is what they wrote me:

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we are forced to create usage restrictions on our site because if we do not our entire website can crash. We try to be generous in our search limits, but there are times when customers looking for just the right seats may find themselves blocked temporarily. In the future, please try to do slightly fewer searches (or do them more slowly) and you will not be blocked."

[jenna2]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:24pm

Looks to me like their trying to keep their site from crashing all together (which is probably a good idea). Their response also gave you advice on how to keep it from happening, so I wouldn't get too upset...

[tazber]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:25pm

That is completely moronic. You're their customer!! You should be allowed to do as many frickin searches as you want before you give THEM a surcharge of YOUR money so you can get exactly what you want.
That's like being denied a favorite dish at a restaraunt b/c the chef can't handle but so many people ordering the same meal.
Bad business.

Updated On: 6/12/07 at 09:25 PM

[Craww]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:26pm

Or they could invest on a better server.

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:26pm

Telecharge has engaged in a despicable business practice.

[MotorTink]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:26pm

my thoughts exactly Craww!

[Craww]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:36pm

I was never fond of their system. They should switch companies and do a total overhaul, in addition to a stronger server.

[retrogirl44]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:43pm

Agreed, and I used to work at Telecharge. However, that being said, 13 yrs ago our lines were being tied up by "scalpers", etc. for hours who were on speed dial, buying up huge chunks of the best seating, and were very saavy in doing so. I DO agree that the current "limitations" and glitches are a very bad biz practice..they KNOW they've got the "out of towners" in their palm. It's a lousy monopoly, with Telecharge controlling nearly all of the Shubert/Jujamcyn houses. The only solution is for consumers to be very vigilant in how they want to spend their money. If you want to really get somewhat "EVEN", take a very long time on the phone, because they're set up to try to make transactions within 3 minutes. They are mostly scripted.. It's YOUR money, do what YOU want.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 9:52pm

And you NOW are aware of this?

Geez...TicketMaster and tons of other online sites have been doing this for years. It's annoying, but there's nothing we can do about it. They have the upper hand and it IS their service, which legally entitles them to run it they way they please. If you don't like how they're doing things, they you have every right to take YOUR business elsewhere. Seriously.

[keybowvio]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 10:05pm

Brody, taking your business elsewhere is all good and well for grocery shopping, but for theater tickets, telecharge and ticketmaster are just about the only places to buy tickets from the "firsthand" market (sorry, can't think of the word), other than the box office, and not all of us can make it to the box office, and they don't exactly make it easy to find there phone numbers.

I'd be happy to buy tickets from bwaycharge.com oh wait, it doesn't exist!

what it is is and unfair monopoly, there is nowhere else to take our business.

[TelechargeWeb]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 10:22pm

I didn't realize there were so many threads on this topic, so I will post this in each of them. As I mentioned in one of these threads earlier, we (accidentally) tightened our usage restrictions too severely. This has led to some customers who care about where they sit (and therefore do lots of seat searches before they purchase) get inadvertently blocked from the site. This problem will be resolved tomorrow morning. Some incorrect information was given out before we identified the problem. And we are VERY very sorry for the inconvenience.

Feel free to email me at [e-mail] with further concerns or questions.

[Steve2]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 10:24pm

Wow, I didn't know Telecharge read these posts. It sounds like the problem is now fixed. I am sure it was due to lots of scalpers trying to scoop up tickets to Spring Awakening, etc.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:19pm

Nah...from what I've heard for decades -- "scalpers" don't even have to bother with TeleCharge, TicketMaster, et al...their sources come directly from the actual box office and/or the show itself.

I remember when THE PRODUCERS first opened, the actual ensemble members were selling their 'house seats' to these brokers/scalpers. Countless of other shows' ensemble members are known to provide them with tickets PLUS supplementing their incomes at the same time.

Gone are those days of buying 'blocks' of tickets. They now deal with the pair scenario since they have access to those highly clamored-for 'house seats' for ANY performance they need them for, etc.

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:32pm

Does anyone believe that promise from Telecharge to fix their problem?

Does anyone have any strategies by which we can fight them?

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:36pm

HDThoreau2 I'm genuinely surprised. I thought you'd be all for unregulated capitalism. Free market and such.

[retrogirl44]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:40pm

ICE !! You guys know what this is, right? And it's been going on since the beginning of time !

[retrogirl44]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:42pm

Telecharge and the "box offices" are one and the same.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:48pm

But if you go to the box office..

a) They can look at various seating options right there.

and most importantly b) There is no service fee.

So no, they're not one and the same.

[retrogirl44]

Posted: 6/12/07 at 11:56pm

with all due respect, they ARE the exact same computer system, but when you go to the box offce, if your'e adamant, they can specifically do a "search"...but they don't like to, because it slows things up, and leaves "holes" of seats. The computer program is set up to sell each section, according to price, from the center "out". That's why every theaters' best "available" is different, every second. Trust me, I worked B.O.

[jg4892]

Posted: 6/13/07 at 12:02am

They blocked me for looking too many times too!!!

[mikem]

Posted: 6/13/07 at 12:12am

Retrogirl, if you ask the box office person for a specific seat, do they have the capability of looking for it? For example, I'd rather sit in the row behind if it's closer to the center, but there's no way of searching that way online.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 6/13/07 at 12:14am

Weird. I've never been adamant, and they've always given me a range of choices. Maybe because I'm polite or something. I just go up and say I'd like usually one ticket for either a date or a range of dates please, and every time even on single dates they offer me a choice in the same price range.

It's also looked like they're looking at something like an airplane seating chart ~ but for the theatre of course ~ that shows them the empty seats.

It may be the same system, but I've always gotten better seats at the box office. And no stupid service fee to use my own ink to print the tickets.

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 6/13/07 at 8:22am

I am for freedom! We should be free to search the seats as much as we would like. I am for honesty and integrity!

[Craig]

Posted: 6/13/07 at 8:31am

No offense HDT, but you are probably one of the last people on this board who should talk about honesty and integrity.

Just sayin'

[HDThoreau2]

Posted: 6/13/07 at 9:29am

I'm sorry that you chose this forum to attack me again. I'm sorry that we don't truly know each other.

I am even more sorry that anyone would obfuscate the issue and cover-up the obvious deficiency of telecharge to serve the Broadway shows and their customers in an appropriate manner.

Updated On: 6/13/07 at 09:29 AM